Much has been written about Vincent van Gogh and his tempestuous relationship with his brother Theo. But few people know that there was a third Van Gogh brother, Cornelis, who was raised in the Netherlands, but worked, married and died in South Africa. The son of a Protestant minister, Cor spent his youth in a series of small Dutch towns, with idyllic holidays walking in the countryside with his artist brother, before troubles and tragedies beset the Van Gogh family. In 1889, the twenty-two-year-old Cor sailed to South Africa, where he worked as an engineer on the gold mines and on the railways. In the Anglo-Boer War he joined the Boers, first as a railway engineer and later on commando in the Free State, where in 1900 he suffered a fate that echoed his famous brother’s tragic end. The Unknown Van Gogh recreates South Africa in the tumultuous last decade of the nineteenth century; reconstructs the personal story of a young immigrant from letters and other archival documents; and explores his relationship with his famous brother Vincent. With new insights based on original research, this book uncovers a figure who has been forgotten by history.

William J. Havlicek's new and revealing book is based largely on Vincent van Gogh?s astonishing letters of which over 900 exist. This important work?the result of over 15 years of research?provides new insight into the artist's true character nurtured from his abiding faith, the influence of family, and the tender solicitude he felt for mankind. The book also dispels much of the myth that has come to surround Vincent?s tumultuous life. In the words of the author, the book illuminates instead ?...an unknown, adventurous, deeply compassionate man whose essence seems to have been lost in the dramatic and often apocryphal stories surrounding his illness and early death. My effort is to resurrect an unknown aspect of Vincent?one that is even heroic and certainly praiseworthy...?.

Fifty of Vincent van Gogh's celebrated paintings reveal the influences of British art and literature on his early career as well as his impact on British artists. Vincent van Gogh, the postimpressionist painter, remains among the most influential figures in the history of Western art. His 871 oil-on-canvas works and numerous sketches shaped the development of contemporary painting, as his tumultuous and tragic personal life typified the idea of a tortured artist. While much has been written on van Gogh, there is little scholarship on his early twenties, a period in which his artistic identity took form in London, England. Van Gogh and Britain follows the painter from his first exposure to British culture in the 1870s, when he lived in south London, to his influence on British art as he achieved iconic status in the 1950s. As a young art dealer in training, van Gogh wandered the streets of London, absorbing the work of the pre-Raphaelites, Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens, reporting happily to his brother Theo: "Things are going well for me here." This book reveals the British ideas, books, paintings, and prints that caught the unknown van Gogh's attention, in turn informing both his ideals and his practical investigations of a radical, egalitarian style. Even after moving to France, van Gogh's preoccupation with British art and literature remains visible in his dramatically original late works, including major pictures such as The Bedroom and Van Gogh's Chair. British painters and collectors were among the first to respond to van Gogh's work when he briefly participated in the Paris art scene, but his full impact would arrive later in the twentieth century, when the artist became an embodiment of embattled human creativity, inspiring modern British painters from Walter Sickert to Francis Bacon.

A wildly entertaining and surprisingly educational dive into art history as you've never seen it before, from the host of the beloved ArtCurious podcast We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know that Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed--or even murdered. Or how about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's most enduring legacies involves Caroline Kennedy's moldy birthday cake and a collection of toenail clippings? ArtCurious is a colorful look at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. Through these and other incredible, weird, and wonderful tales, ArtCurious presents an engaging look at why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.

Great portraits from all stages of van Gogh's life, with essays which focus on particular groups of work and van Gogh's aims and methods.

The best-known and most sensational event in Vincent van Gogh’s life is also the least understood. For more than a century, biographers and historians seeking definitive facts about what happened on a December night in Arles have unearthed more questions than answers. Why would an artist at the height of his powers commit such a brutal act? Who was the mysterious “Rachel” to whom he presented his macabre gift? Did he use a razor or a knife? Was it just a segment—or did Van Gogh really lop off his entire ear? In Van Gogh’s Ear, Bernadette Murphy reveals, for the first time, the true story of this long-misunderstood incident, sweeping away decades of myth and giving us a glimpse of a troubled but brilliant artist at his breaking point. Murphy’s detective work takes her from Europe to the United States and back, from the holdings of major museums to the moldering contents of forgotten archives. She braids together her own thrilling journey of discovery with a narrative of Van Gogh’s life in Arles, the sleepy Provençal town where he created his finest work, and vividly reconstructs the world in which he moved—the madams and prostitutes, café patrons and police inspectors, shepherds and bohemian artists. We encounter Van Gogh’s brother and benefactor Theo, his guest and fellow painter Paul Gauguin, and many local subjects of Van Gogh’s paintings, some of whom Murphy identifies for the first time. Strikingly, Murphy uncovers previously unknown information about “Rachel”—and uses it to propose a bold new hypothesis about what was occurring in Van Gogh’s heart and mind as he made a mysterious delivery to her doorstep. As it reopens one of art history’s most famous cold cases, Van Gogh’s Ear becomes a fascinating work of detection. It is also a study of a painter creating his most iconic and revolutionary work, pushing himself ever closer to greatness even as he edged toward madness—and one fateful sweep of the blade that would resonate through the ages.

The Secret Museum is a unique treasure trove of the most intriguing artifacts hidden away in museum archives from all over the world – curated, brought to light, and brought to life by Molly Oldfield in a beautifully illustrated collection.